1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrostatic capacitance sensor and a method for determining a failure of an electrostatic-type capacitance sensor.
For those designated countries which permit the incorporation by reference, the contents described and/or illustrated in the documents relevant to Patent Application No. 2010-217316 filed with Japan Patent Office on Sep. 28, 2010 and Patent application No. 2010-291780 filed with Japan Patent Office on Dec. 28, 2010 will be incorporated herein by reference as a part of the description and/or drawings of the present application.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrostatic capacitance detection apparatus is known which detects an object on the basis of an electrostatic capacitance between an electrode and a grounded section and which is provided with an independent auxiliary electrode that functions as a dummy object, thereby to self-diagnose a failure of the electrostatic capacitance sensor (Patent Literature 1: Published Patent Application No. 2001-264448).